Plastic bearing for an airless spray gun

ABSTRACT

A plastic disc-like bearing for a turret member housing of an airless spray gun includes a roughened generally spherical outer surface that engages a generally spherical seat of the housing. An integral peripheral flange of the bearing has a roughened surface that engages a flange seat of the housing adjacent the periphery of the spherical seat. A smooth generally spherical inner surface of the bearing engages a generally spherical turret member received within the housing and a conventional plastic ring cooperates with the plastic bearing to support the turret member for rotational movement between a spraying position and a non-spraying position. In the spraying position, a spraying orifice of the turret member faces outwardly of apertures in the plastic bearing and the housing, the aperture of the bearing being the smaller of the two.

United States Patent Blancha 1 June 6,1972

[54] PLASTIC BEARING FOR AN AIRLESS SPRAY GUN [72] Inventor: Erwin B.Blanche, Sterling Heights, Mich.

[73] Assignee: General Motors Corporation, Detroit,

Mich.

[22] Filed: Oct. 21, 1970 [21] Appl.No.: 82,716

[52] US. Cl ..239/393, 239/602, 308/72 [51] Int. Cl ..B05b 15/02 [58]Field of Search ..239/393, 412, 602, 587, DIG. 4, 239/392; 308/72, 238

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,116,882 1/1964 Vork..239/39l X 3,319,893 5/1967 Rodgers et al. ..239/393 FOREIGN PATENTS ORAPPLICATIONS 155,216 7/1938 Germany ..239/393 Primary Examiner-M. HensonWood, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Michael Y. Mar Attorney-W. E. Finken andHerbert Furman [5 7] ABSTRACT A plastic disc-like bearing for a turretmember housing of an airless spray gun includes a roughened generallyspherical outer surface that engages a generally spherical seat of thehousing. An integral peripheral flange of the hearing has a roughenedsurface that engages a flange seat of the housing adjacent the peripheryof the spherical seat. A smooth generally spherical inner surface of thebearing engages a generally spherical turret member received within thehousing and a conventional plastic ring cooperates with the plasticbearing to support the turret member for rotational movement between aspraying position and a non-spraying position. In the spraying position,a spraying orifice of the turret member faces outwardly of apertures inthe plastic bearing and the housing, the aperture of the bearing beingthe smaller of the two.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEBJUH 61972 3 667. 681

INVENTOR.

BY (9 min 6. Elancha MM AT VORN EY PLASTIC BEARING FOR AN AIRLESS SPRAYGUN This invention relates to a disc-like plastic bearing for a turretmember housing of an airless spray gun.

It is well known to provide an airless spray gun which includes ahousing that supports a turret member for rotational movement 180between a spraying position and a non-spraying position in which reversefluid flow through a spraying orifice of the turret member unclogs thespraying orifice of accumulated matter. To prevent the fluid which issprayed from building up in layers on the turret member and/or thehousing, the housing engages the turret member with a relatively highpressure therebetween. If this engagement is metal-to-metal, anexorbitantly high torque is required to rotate the turret member betweenthe spraying and non-spraying positions. As such, it is conventional touse plastic rings that include spherical portions that engage and thusrotatably support the turret member. Due to the high pressure theserings are subjected to, they have a tendency to plastically deform and,as such, must be occasionally replaced to allow smooth rotation of theturret member. Since the ring adjacent the spraying orifice, with theturret member in spraying position, is particularly inaccessible, itsreplacement is somewhat difiicult.

This invention provides an improved disc-like plastic bearing for aturret member housing of an airless spray gun which has a minimumtendency to plastically deform and is readily accessible forreplacement.

One feature of this invention is that it provides a disc-like plasticbearing for a turret member housing of an airless spray gun in which thebearing has a roughened generally spherical outer surface that engages agenerally spherical seat of the housing and a smooth generally sphericalinner surface that engages the turret member received within thehousing.

Another feature of this invention is that the bearing includes anintegral peripheral flange with a roughened surface that engages aflange seat ofthe housing.

Yet another feature of this invention is that the fluid is sprayedoutwardly of the housing'through apertures in the plastic bearing andthe housing and the bearing aperture is the smaller of the two such thatthe bearing is readily accessible for replacement.

These and other features of this invention will be apparent from thefollowing description and drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a partially broken away elevation view of an airless spray gunthat includes a turret member mounted within a housing by a plasticbearing according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged partially sectioned view of the housing of FIG. 1showing the bearing supporting the turret member; and

FIG. 3 is a partially broken away perspective view of a plastic bearingaccording to the invention.

Referring now to FIG. I, a conventional airless spray gun generallyindicated at includes a generally parallelogramlike support member 12that has a flange 14 secured to its lower left-hand side and a flange 16secured to its upper righthand side. A fluid operated motor 18 issecured to the lefthand end of flange l4 and is selectively suppliedwith a fluid pressure to move a piston and its attached rod 20 to theright thus actuating a dispensing fluid valve assembly 22 secured to theright-hand end of flange 14. This actuation causes valve assembly 22 tosupply a fluid to be sprayed to a threaded conduit 24 that is fluidlycommunicated with a turret member housing 26 by threaded fittings 28, 30and 32. A turret member rotating mechanism 34 is secured to the upperside of flange l6 and is controlled by a fluid motor 36 such that adownwardly extending member 38, whose lower end is received withinhousing 26, rotates a turret member between a spraying position and anon-spraying position, as will be described.

Referring now to FIG. 2, housing 26 includes a cavity 40 that receives agenerally spherical turret member 42. Turret member 42 includes a fluidpassage 44, a spraying orifice 46, and an upper squared aperture 48 thatreceives the lower squared end of member 38 such that the turret member42 may be rotated between the spraying position, as shown, and anon-spraying position in which spraying orifice 46 faces toward the leftand can thus be cleansed of accumulated matter by reverse fluid flowtherethrough. Adjacent its righthand side, housing 26 includes agenerally frustroconical spraying aperture 50 and an adjacent generallyspherical seat 52 that has a flange seat 54 at its periphery.

A generally disc-like plastic bearing 56, according to this invention,is located between the turret member 42 and the spherical seat 52 andincludes an annular spraying aperture 58 having a slightly smallerdiameter than the adjacent smallest diameter of spraying aperture 50 ofhousing 26. As such, with turret member 42 removed from the housing 26,a suitable annular tool may be inserted within spraying aperture 50 toengage the plastic bearing 56 and to move the bearing to the left tothus allow replacement. At its periphery, plastic bearing 56 includes anintegral annular flange 60 that engages the flange seat 54 of housing26. The surfaces of bearing 56 that engage seats 52 and 54 are roughenedby etching, or other suitable processes, and frictional engagementbetween the roughened surfaces and the seats thus holds the bearing inposition. The inner surface of plastic bearing 56 is smooth and thusengages turret member 42 with a minimum of friction therebetween. At itsleft-hand end, the threaded inner bore of housing 26 receives a threadedmember 62 that has an Allen wrench receiving fluid passage 64. Theright-hand end of member 62 engages a conventional plastic ring 66 whichhas a spherical seat 68 that cooperates with plastic bearing 56 tosupport the turret member 42 for rotational movement between thespraying position and the non-spraying position.

Plastic bearing 56 is formed of a suitable plastic such as Mylar, Teflonor nylon. The thin disc-like configuration of the bearing and thegenerally roughened outer surface and smooth inner surface provide aminimum of plastic deformation, and when such plastic deformation doesoccur, the bearing is readily accessible for replacement.

The invention thus provides an improved disc-like plastic bearing for aturret member housing of an airless spray gun.

It is claimed:

1. In an airless spray gun, the combination comprising, an aperturedhousing having a spherical seat adjacent the aperture, a generallyspherical turret member received within the housing and including aspraying orifice for spraying a fluid outwardly of the housing throughthe aperture thereof, a disclike plastic bearing located between thespherical seat and the turret member and having an aperture adjacent theaperture of the housing, the bearing including a roughened generallyspherical outer surface engaging the spherical seat of the housing and asmooth generally spherical inner surface engaging the spherical turretmember, turret member support means engaging and rotatably supportingthe spherical turret member in cooperation with the plastic bearing, andmeans for rotating the turret member within the turret member supportmeans and the plastic bearing between a spraying position and anon-spraying position.

2. In an airless spray gun, the combination comprising, an aperturedhousing including a generally spherical seat adjacent the aperture and aflange seat adjacent the periphery of the spherical seat, a generallyspherical turret member received within the housing and having aspraying orifice for spraying a fluid outwardly of the housing throughthe aperture thereof, a disc-like plastic bearing located between thespherical seat and the spherical turret member and having an integralflange at the periphery thereof, the bearing including an apertureadjacent to and of a smaller size than the aperture of the housing, thebearing including a roughened generally spherical outer surface engagingthe spherical seat of the housing and a roughened surface on the side ofthe flange engaging the flange seat, the bearing including a smoothgenerally spherical inner surface engaging the spherical turret member,turret member support means engaging and rotatably supporting thespherical turret member in cooperating with the plastic bearing, andmeans for rotating the turret member within the turret member supportmeans and the plastic bearing between a spraying position and anon-spraying position.

* k k I!

1. In an airless spray gun, the combination comprising, an aperturedhousing having a spherical seat adjacent the aperture, a generallyspherical turret member received within the housing and including asprAying orifice for spraying a fluid outwardly of the housing throughthe aperture thereof, a disc-like plastic bearing located between thespherical seat and the turret member and having an aperture adjacent theaperture of the housing, the bearing including a roughened generallyspherical outer surface engaging the spherical seat of the housing and asmooth generally spherical inner surface engaging the spherical turretmember, turret member support means engaging and rotatably supportingthe spherical turret member in cooperation with the plastic bearing, andmeans for rotating the turret member within the turret member supportmeans and the plastic bearing between a spraying position and anon-spraying position.
 2. In an airless spray gun, the combinationcomprising, an apertured housing including a generally spherical seatadjacent the aperture and a flange seat adjacent the periphery of thespherical seat, a generally spherical turret member received within thehousing and having a spraying orifice for spraying a fluid outwardly ofthe housing through the aperture thereof, a disc-like plastic bearinglocated between the spherical seat and the spherical turret member andhaving an integral flange at the periphery thereof, the bearingincluding an aperture adjacent to and of a smaller size than theaperture of the housing, the bearing including a roughened generallyspherical outer surface engaging the spherical seat of the housing and aroughened surface on the side of the flange engaging the flange seat,the bearing including a smooth generally spherical inner surfaceengaging the spherical turret member, turret member support meansengaging and rotatably supporting the spherical turret member incooperating with the plastic bearing, and means for rotating the turretmember within the turret member support means and the plastic bearingbetween a spraying position and a non-spraying position.